When “Blue Jasmine” opened in the summer, its awards talk initially revolved around Cate Blanchett’s certain Best Actress nod — but as the glowing reviews and remarkable box office continued, the conversation has expanded. Speaking about their 2013 Oscar strategy to Scott Feinberg, Sony Classics bosses Michael Barker and Tom Bernard say they’re confident the film will receive Best Picture nominations, along with nods for Sally Hawkins, Woody Allen’s screenplay (of course) and even the costumes. They also explain their decision to play any festivals with the film, while the conversation extends to “Before Midnight,” “The Invisible Woman,” and their foreign and documentary hopefuls. [The Race]
Barker and Bernard also pop up in Tim Gray’s piece on how the Academy’s changes to the Best Foreign Language Film voting system might impact the category. Will voters watch all the nominees? [Variety]
Oscar-winning documentary director Charles Ferguson explains why he’s cancelling his planned Hillary Clinton film. [Huffington Post]
An excellent long read by A.O. Scott on this year’s racially-themed prestige films, and how cultural consensus on this topic continues to elude us. [New York Times]
Hong Kong’s Oscar submission, Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster,” leads the nominees for the Golden Horse Awards for Chinese-speaking territories. [Golden Horse]
Natalie Portman calls for more realistic female role models on screen: kickass female characters, she argues, aren’t necessarily feminist. [Elle]
Alfonso Cuaron on why most 3D films are “crap,” among other subjects. [Screen]
Anne Billson on the bothersome anonymity of so many contemporary film titles. [The Telegraph]
Steve Pond catches up with the past week’s back-and-forth developments in the Oscar race, and wonders — like everyone else — what’s up with “The Wolf of Wall Street.” [The Wrap]
Mark Kermode asks what value film critics retain in the internet age. [The Observer]